The high-school student James "Jim" Majelewski (Tom Bresnahan) is a troublemaker bad boy, playing prank at school. The Principal summons his parents and explains that Jim will be suspended and will not graduate, unless he goes to the Psychological Research Institute (PRI) to be submitted to a treatment by the famous Dr. Anthony Blakely (David Gale). Their parents are forced to send Jim to the PRI and the nurse Vivian (Christine Kossack) welcomes him. Dr. Blakely connects Jim to a huge brain and he has dreadful hallucinations. He flees from the PRI and meets his girlfriend Janet (Cynthia Preston) and his best friends Willie (Bret Pearson) and Becky (Susannah Hoffmann) at the dinner where they work. However, Dr. Blakely's assistant Verna (George Buza) arrives and abducts Jim back to the institute. Soon he discovers the true intention of Dr. Blakely and his brain.

"The Brain" is a sci-fi-horror movie that recalls the films from the 50's. The plot is funny, and The Brain is very trashy. The idea is a teen version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with a brain dominating people through television. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cérebro" ("The Brain")

I can only assume I am the first one to make that pun ... not! But that aside, you have to have some love for B-Horror movies to like this. It is slimy and gross to say the least. The effects are quite decent considering the budget and when it was made.

There are flaws and holes in the story and characters will act strangely to say the least. But that is what you get with movies like these. Also the cool (and fun) practical effects this has. An 80s movies through and through ...

THE BRAIN is a solid entry in the 'rubbery monster' B-movie cycle of the 1980s: many of these films were highly entertaining, and this is no exception. It may not reach the heights of genre classics like RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, or NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, but for what it is, THE BRAIN delivers. It reminded me of a slightly higher budgeted version of films like THE DEADLY SPAWN and THE ABOMINATION.

The biggest drawback is the plot. What we see of it is fine, but half of the film is spent on repetitive chase sequences with our hero narrowly averting being captured by the cops time and again. The first few times, this stuff is fresh and exciting, but then it becomes boring and you wish they'd get on with telling the story. This is what stops THE BRAIN from being an outright camp classic.

Still, there are plenty of pluses here too. The opening sequence, in which a teenage girl is assailed by slimy tentacles and bleeding teddy bears in her narrowing bedroom, is exceptionally done. I liked how the brain kept growing in size as the film progressed, until it reaches tremendous proportions at the climax. I also found the special effects to be superb, especially the brain itself: this is what special effects were all about, and it's obvious that plenty of time and care went into its creation. Fine by me! The casting is less impressive, as we're saddled with a particularly unsympathetic lead. Not to worry – further down the cast is the great David Gale, once again playing a rotter (in line with his appearances in the RE-ANIMATOR flicks!). Plus there's the gorgeous Christine Kossak, providing some completely gratuitous nudity, and the hulking George Buza, who runs amok with an axe for the most part; you can't really complain about that.

Despite the multitude of rubbery effects, the film is surprisingly free of gore. There's a beheading in here and some gruesome scenes of the brain chomping on victims, but that's about it. There's also an impressive car flip and a fun explosive ending. This will go down as a classic in nobody's mind, but for some fun '80s cheesiness, you've come to the right place.